Beginnings
by Cyn V
Summary: What happened on the day Naruto was born. - Warning: bit of violence, featuring evil Kushina.


**A/N: ****This scene is part of an AU I'm developing where Minato is alive. For all the fics where the Fourth is evil, I've never seen one where Kushina was anything but angelic. Warning: if you're sensitive to such things, you might find it a bit violent, although it's nothing too graphical. To those who are twisted like me: enjoy!  
Disclaimer: Naruto (c) Kishimoto, not me.**

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Kushina Uzumaki had been anxious all week, watching the deadline she herself had set closing in, while nothing happened as the doctors guaranteed it would. Now that her plan had been irrevocably set in motion and the Nine-tails summoned, it looked as if all her efforts were going to go to waste. The bastard in her womb had decided it was not going to come out yet.

She was regretting having refused to schedule a surgery to deliver the baby since it was now only a matter of minutes until the demon reached Konoha. Ninja of all ranks were already hurrying back and forth on the streets - preparing for battle, evacuating civilians and setting up defensive barriers - and she would be damned if she was going to be the reason the plan failed.

She had not spent years undercover, seducing the Yellow Flash despite her disgust of the man and subjecting herself to his torturous company, only for an unborn brat to ruin everything. The Akatsuki needed the Kyuubi sealed away - and Minato was the only one who knew how to do it -, and Kushina desperately needed the Akatsuki to exact her revenge on Konoha for what it had done to her homeland.

The former Whirlpool kunoichi did not have to look long around the house that she had shared with her husband for the past couple of months to find one of Minato's special kunais. Shivers of delight ran down her spine, knowing that she would be using it against its smug master. Before she could over think her actions, Kushina plunged it into her swollen abdomen, mimicking what little she knew of the surgical birthing procedure.

Her cries of pain were so loud that the entire neighbourhood could probably hear them, but Kushina still found her sight darkening around the edges as thick, bright blood advanced over the floorboards.

Despite the fact that they were her sworn enemies, she was almost thankful when she saw her husband dash into the room, accompanied by one of his students - a medic called Rin. She let a mocking smile curve her bloodied lips, secure in the knowledge that Naruto would serve his purpose and that everything would proceed according to the plan.

"Kushina! Rin, help her," the blond Hokage cried as he knelt next to her and held her blood-stained hand. Kushina would have preferred not to spend her final moments looking at his face, but perhaps there was a way she could take advantage of the situation to finally do what she had longed to ever since the start of her infiltration assignment. "Who did this to you?" Minato insisted, not realising the shift in his wife's eyes.

"Huhuhu..." her feeble laughs came between gurgles. "I did this, you stupid blond. I did all of it!"

The widening of blue eyes was satisfying to look at, Kushina decided, but once full understanding dawned on them, it would be even better. Blood-loss was leaving her light headed, but the pain her cuts had caused was receding to make way for a visceral thrill of excitement at the prospect of what she was about to reveal.

By the time the Whirlpool kunoichi was done gloating about her crimes, Rin was frozen in shock, looking at her teacher and Hokage with pity and compassion in her chocolate-brown eyes. In her arms was a baby, covered in blood that was not just his mother's and lying much too still to be in perfect health. She wanted to say something to comfort her mentor, but all words fled at the sight of his crushed face.

Minato was slowly rising from the floor, revulsion and hatred warring with sadness over his features. Refusing to glance at the one he had considered the love of his life, he stoically asked his student to hand over his son to him. Rin sorely wished she wouldn't have to lay more grief on his shoulders, but it was unavoidable.

"The baby... he has some cuts... Kushina must have nicked him with the kunai. I don't think... I don't think he's going to make it," she whispered as she carefully placed the silent baby on his father's arms.

Minato did not give any outward reaction to the news. He was already overwhelmed by how abruptly everything he had treasured was being destroyed. Ironically enough, though, Rin's words seemed to be just what he needed to hear to pull himself back together.

It was the surest he had felt all evening. He was going to die and doom his son to share his body with the foulest of demons, but at the same time that curse might just be the only thing capable of saving little Naruto now.

The Hokage left the house holding the fragile baby and doing his best to ignore the blood-soaked laughs that followed him out the door. He had a village and a son to save.


End file.
